


Is This Seat Taken?

by 1Forrest1



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, Humanstuck, M/M, They're flying with southwest?!, airport, uwu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 02:57:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15572169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1Forrest1/pseuds/1Forrest1
Summary: Eridan nearly misses his flight out to Maryland, thankfully a generous stranger is willing to offer him a seat.





	Is This Seat Taken?

"Sir, could you please step aside?" A soft but firm hand gripped Eridan's shoulder, so that, even if he wanted to, he'd have no way to escape. Plus, Eridan was pretty sure they're armed, he isn't stupid enough to run from an armed security guard, believe it or not.

"Is something wrong?" Eridan displayed his most innocent expression, perhaps his trademark pouting face could wriggle him out of another tight situation?

"Our computer has detected something on your person. We're going to need to search you."

Alas, Eridan was no longer a child. And this was a trained security guard, they probably don't even feel emotion.

"How long will this take? I'm at risk of missing my flight..." Eridan explained, nudging the guard's hand off as he lead Eridan to a secluded room.

"Only a moment." The guard replied as though he was only partially listening. "Lift your arms above your head." The officer instructed after shutting the door. Eridan complied, and the guard proceeded to pat along his stomach and waistline, hitting his belt. "Is this metal?" The guard asked, tapping the belt.

"Yes," Eridan affirmed, begging to slide the belt off, "forgot I was wearing it." The guard clearly rolled his eyes, and Eridan blushed out of chagrin.

"Try not to forget in the future." The guard said, holding the door open for him.

"Last call for: Eridan Ampora. Flight 306 to Baltimore, Maryland."

"Oh, bloody..." Eridan murmured to himself, quickly scanning TSA for his carry on bag. He finally spotted the bag, slumped against the back of a security desk. Eridan rushed over to grab it, earning a disapproving look from the guard behind the desk. Eridan couldn't even buy the time to apologize, he needed to get to that flight.

  
~~~~~

Are there any open rows?" Eridan helplessly asks one of the stewardesses, she shakes her head, and steps out of the aisle so Eridan could find a seat. He was really looking forward to the chance of having a row to himself, he'd paid for a first class ticket so he could pick his seat out before anyone else. Not that it matters much now...

Halfway down the aisle, and no such luck, a quiet, sick sounding voice pipes up. "You can sit here. If you want."

Surprised at the sudden offer, Eridan glances down, and sees a brazen looking young man with dark eyeglasses staring back at him. "Oh," Eridan didn't really have a better option, it appeared, "thank you."

"No problem." The young man pops an earbud back in, before turning back out the window as Eridan shoved his luggage into the overhead cabinet. Eridan was surprised and impressed that the young man even offered him a seat, he was lucky enough to have a row to himself! If Eridan was in this man's shoes, he certainly wouldn't give up such a golden opportunity.

The first 30 minutes of the flight were pretty uneventful. Eridan busied himself with a book he'd taken with him, but quickly finished it. He was almost done with it to begin with, it probably would have been smart to grab another one.

At one point, Eridan glances down at the man seated next to him, and looks briefly at his phone. Eridan's eyebrows raise when he sees the band the other man is listening to.

"You like Chase Atlantic?" Eridan couldn't help but be surprised, he knew that looks could be deceiving, but this stranger didn't seem to be the type to listen to indie music.

The man looks up, eyebrows raised just as high as Eridan's. "Yeah," he shifts in his seat, "they're one of my favorite bands."

"Mine, too." Eridan smiles.

"My favorite song by them is probably 'Friends'. It speaks to me on such an emotional level." The man gets a distant, pained expression. Eridan notices that he has a faint lisp, not that Eridan is one to judge, being born with a killer stutter and all.

"Me, too," Eridan agrees again, "it brings back horrible memories, but I still can't help but feeling attached to it, you know?"

He nods, "I know, this was the song that was playing on the radio when my girlfriend broke up with me, ironically enough."

Eridan chuckles, "I'm Eridan," he offers a hand, "in case you were wondering."

"Sollux," he takes the hand and shakes it firmly, "and, yeah, I was wondering." He winks.

"Your girlfriend," Eridan drops his hand back onto his lap, "...is she still in your life?" Eridan immediately winces, that was a weird thing to ask so suddenly, wasn't it...

Sollux doesn't seem to judge, instead, he nods, "yeah, she's my best friend."

Eridan smiles, "that must be nice. My girlfriend broke up with me over text, and didn't answer any of my calls. Something like a week later I see her at our favorite bar, snogging some guy named John."

Sollux actually looks hurt, "ouch. Not cool," he pulls out his earbuds, "me and my ex were close friends before we dated, which is probably why it didn't work out to begin with. Generally, it isn't good to date your best friend. Take it from me."

Eridan's heart drops, "oh," is all he can muster.

"Why," Sollux asks, "were you actually thinking about asking your best friend out?"

Did Sollux even have the right to know about Feferi? Eridan had only just met the guy, and after this 3 hour plane flight, they'd never see each other again. But, Sollux seemed pretty willing to listen, and he had experience, maybe he could give solid advice. Hell, maybe he'd even be able to talk Eridan out of asking Feferi Peixes out all together! Wouldn't that be a miracle... Eridan has been too afraid of ruining their friendship to ask Feferi out, maybe all he needs is some sense slapped into him. Someone to tell him, 'hey, you socially inept baboon, be thankful that's she's even your friend, both of you know that you're a piece of shit that doesn't deserve her anyways'.

"Yeah," Eridan confesses, "her name is Feferi Piexes and I've known her before I even learned how to walk, I'm not even exaggerating."

"Wow," Sollux raises a brow, "you don't stand a chance."

"Excuse me?" Eridan looks over at him, flabbergasted, only to find Sollux grinning playfully behind his dark glasses. Eridan himself can't help but chuckle, "as a matter of fact, I think I do stand a chance. Thank you very much."

Sollux shakes his head, "the longer you've known them, the less likely you are to date them. S'just science, bro."

Eridan shakes his head, "you don't know Feferi, she's so sweet and caring to literally everyone. In fact, it's kind of hard to distinguish between the people she likes as friends, and the people she likes romantically."

Sollux nods, "Aradia -my ex- is the same way, sometimes I feel like she only dated me because she felt bad..." Sollux gets a crestfallen look on his face.

"Why would you think that?" Eridan asks, "you're a nice guy, and you seem attractive enough."

Sollux's face gets a red tint, and Eridan couldn't pretend to not notice it if he tried. "You don't really know me, though." Sollux says.

"Yeah, you're right," Eridan agrees, "but I do know nice girls, and if Aradia is a nice girl, then there's no way she'd date you simply out of pity."

Sollux shrugs, looking back out the small window to the clouds, "I'm not a very nice person to date." He says meekly.

"Why? Are you one of those people that can't stand PDA? Because I totally understand, and if a person really likes you-"

"No, I-... I have this thing called manic depression, it sort of messes with the way I interact with people, I guess." Sollux looks pained. Eridan feels pained, he hadn't meant to force Sollux to talk about something so sensitive to him.

"I'm... sorry..." Is the best he can offer.

"No, hey, it's fine," Sollux takes off his glasses, but doesn't look at Eridan, "I'm heavily medicated, so it's not as bad as it used to be."

Eridan understood medications, at least. "It's never fun taking pills." He says sympathetically, studying Sollux's sharp jawline.

"No, it's not." Sollux agrees, offering Eridan a shy smirk, and finally looking him into his eyes.

Eridan openly gawks, then realizes he was making a right ass of himself, and promptly shuts his mouth. Sollux's eyes were gorgeously round and observant, one was a rust shade, the other, an oceanic blue. The deep eye bags below them, sinking his eyes into his head, only gave them more definition. They had an acute pink tint, like Sollux spent a lot of time crying, or awake, and it just made Eridan want to hug him.

Sollux blushes deeper and hastily slides his glasses back on, looking away completely.

Eridan thoughts race around his head, desperately trying to conjure up something to say.

_"Wow! You have such weird eyes!"_ No, that would only make Sollux uncomfortable.

_"Your eyes are very pretty."_ Yeah, like he hasn't heard that one before.

Wait- why was Eridan even worried about what he should say to Sollux?

"You shouldn't be self conscious of your eyes," Eridan blurts, "they're a part of what makes you unique, you should embrace them. And besides, they make you look... sharp..."

"Sharp?" Sollux quirks a brow, looking over at Eridan. Sollux's deep flush staining his cheeks only made Eridan hyper aware of his own heated face. He self consciously reaches up to adjust the air conditioning above his seat.

"I don't know," Eridan shrugs, folding his arms, "I assumed you'd like 'sharp' over 'weird' or 'pretty'."

"You're right, I do." Sollux takes his glasses off again, offering Eridan a fuller grin, "sharp. Sexy." Sollux rolled his shoulders and waggled his brows, causing Eridan to snort despite his best effort not to.

"Maybe you really do have a chance with Feferi..." Sollux remarks after a few minutes of silence.

"I'm still not sure," Eridan answers, stretching his legs until they bump the seat in front of him, "I don't exactly have the best track record with dating."

Sollux lets out a nasally snicker, "it has to be better than mine, I already told you, the only person I've ever dated was my best friend."

Eridan smiles weakly, "I tend to get overly attached."

"Some people might like that." Sollux mutters, almost as though he's second guessing what he said.

"No, Fef wouldn't," Eridan shakes his head, "I'd get jealous of all the people she talks to, I already do."

"Attachment isn't a flaw when it comes to dating." Sollux says.

"Obsessive attachment is," Eridan sighs, "plus I'm boring. My ex told me as much."

Sollux leans into Eridan with a disappointed scowl, "ED, if your ex-girlfriend is the kind of person to breakup via text, then you absolutely should _not_ listen to anything that she has to say."

"You're probably right, but still," Eridan gestures to himself, "do you find history interesting? How about harpoon guns? Wizards? Sol, I'm going to college to be an accountant, for Pete's sake,"

"I wouldn't find any of that stuff boring, as long as you're the one talking to me about it."

Eridan blinks, and realizes what Sollux said probably same time Sollux realizes what he said, too. Eridan's brain once again is desperately trying to think up a good response. In the end, he just looks away from Sollux entirely.

"What I meant by that was," Sollux coughs, "you're an interesting person to talk to. And if accounting is boring, then I'm the personified version of some grandfather's amnesia scrambled tall tale. _'Did I ever tell you the story of how I got this here scar?'_. That's me, in the flesh and blood. ED, I'm a Comp Sci major. Hell, even I get bored with what I do."

Eridan grins, "Comp Sci is good. I remember Vris telling me about how bad John was at it..."

"How dare you compare me to him," Sollux puffs his chest out, "ED I'm so good at computers, I make the US government look like an online tutor teaching the basics of JavaScript."

"Wow," Eridan giggles, realizing that he actually enjoyed listening to Sollux talk, lisp and all.

"I can make the Russian hacking look like a high school experiment, believe me."

"I do." Eridan smiles, and in turn, Sollux smiles back.

It's not as though they weren't smiling at each other this entire time, but, only just now were they smiling with each other. Sollux had crooked teeth, but they weren't exactly unattractive, Eridan might even call them cute. Childish.

Sollux's broad, prideful grin settles into something calmer, as Eridan watchs Sollux's eyes search his face. Finally, the tension becomes too much, what with the expression Sollux is giving him, its too fond for someone who's only known Eridan for an hour.

"What makes you interested in accounting?" Sollux's foolishly open smile wouldn't leave, Eridan forces himself to look ahead. He wishs Sollux would put his glasses back on, Eridan hadn't anticipated his eyes being so expressive.

"My father. I'd originally wanted to do something with science." Eridan explains.

"I thought you were into wizards." Eridan could still hear the smile in Sollux's voice.

"Yes. But magic isn't real, everyone knows that."

"Mm..." Sollux replies thoughtfully, but when Eridan looked over at him, his brow was furrowed, he seemed to be conflicted again.

"Where are you going?" Eridan asks, now desperate for the relaxed smirk Sollux was wearing before the tender fondness and over expressive eyes. Jesus, couldn't he just make up his mind? It's like Sollux was scrambling his head, and he hated it, because he knew exactly what was bound to come next...

"Nowhere?" Sollux says it like a question, "I'm on a plane, ED."

"No I mean," Eridan couldn't help but chuckle, "when we land. Where are you going when we land?"

"Oh!" Sollux gently thunks himself along the forehead, "duh. I'm visiting family. You?"

"I'm accompanying my father on a business trip," Eridan shrugs, _wishing_ he could be visiting family, "he left a couple of weeks before me."

"Sounds fun," Sollux quirks a brow, "who's your father?"

"Oh, uh," Eridan ran a hand through his locks, "he's the CEO of AmporaCorp."

"Get the fuck out," Sollux's jaw nearly meets the floor, "are you Eridan Ampora?"

"Yes?" Eridan thought it was obvious, his first name wasn't all that common.

"No wonder Piexes sounds familiar! Your father works with Condie Piexes, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, they're business partners."

"My dad works for Condie!"

"Woah," Eridan's jaw meets the same fate as Sollux's, "small world..."

"That's crazy," Sollux grins, "do you think you can tell your dad to tell Condie to give my dad a promotion? His name is Simon Captor and he works on engineering her ships."

Eridan laughs, "I'll definitely run it by with him."

"I was thinking about hacking his bank account, Dualscar Ampora's y'know, just for lols, but I guess I won't now." Sollux remarks, as if hacking bank accounts was something he did on a daily basis.

It probably was.

"Please, don't," Eridan smiles, "he'd track you down, it doesn't matter how good you are."

"ED, I'm so good at hacking, I've installed it into every activity I do," Sollux's self righteous smirk expands, "when I have sex, guess what I'm gonna do ED."

"Enjoy it?"

"As soon as I get fully submerged, I'm gonna whisper to them," Sollux put his lips directly against Eridan's ear, _"hacker voice: I'm in."_

Eridan couldn't control the pure, outrageous guffawing that took him over, he laughs so loud the people in the row across from him turned to give him a nasty look. "Oh god, Sol," Eridan rubs his eyes, "if anyone did that to me, I wouldn't be able to finish, I'd be laughing too hard."

Sollux's smile fades a bit, "you should use it on Feferi, but make sure to quote me, I demand at least 20% credit. Also, invite me to your wedding."

"I'm not so sure about Feferi anymore," Eridan mirrors the fond smile Sollux was giving him earlier, "there are plenty of fish in the sea, right?"

"Fish puns," Sollux sniggers, "I'm more of a bee man myself, but, I like it.

"I like it a lot."

Not long after that, Eridan felt himself getting sleepy, and he told Sollux as much. The other man demanded for Eridan to use his shoulder as a pillow, and Eridan was more than happy to comply. He was actually thinking the same thing.

Eridan couldn't say how much time went by, in fact, it almost felt as though time stopped, especially when Sollux buried his nose into Eridan's hair and began to doze off himself.

_What about Fef?_ Eridan's mind kept telling him, _you can't leave Fef behind for someone you've only known for a few hours!_

Eridan's mind was right, absolutely right.

_But you can't just leave Sollux after this, he's one of the funniest people you've ever met!_

Absolutely right...

Eridan realized, though he suspects he'd always known, that he really didn't want to leave Sollux behind. Not at all. It doesn't matter if they stay as friends, or flourished into something more. Eridan wanted to keep Sollux in his life.

He hated himself so much, so, so much. Why is he always attaching himself to people like a leech? It was dysfunctional... Vriska and his father have told him as much. Already, Eridan's mind was showing him the unavoidable scene of Sollux walking away from the airport luggage claim, never to be seen again. And Eridan wanted to cry because he knew it would take days before Sollux stop possessing his every thought.

~~~~

"Man, my neck has never felt this stiff in all my life." Sollux remarks, bending his neck to the left and right, earning a loud pop.

"Tell me about it," Eridan rubs his own neck, "if I had my dad's money, I'd just have ordered a private jet!"

"Yeah but," Sollux's smile becomes uncertain, "you never would have met me, then."

"You're right," Eridan giggles, "guess I had to sacrifice comfort in order to meet a new friend."

Sollux suddenly reaches in front of Eridan, and pulls out a worn, grey suitcase that looked like it was going to pop at the seams any minute. "Family awaits..." Sollux sighs, and Eridan thinks for a terrifying moment that Sollux was going to leave him there, before Eridan could muster up the courage to ask him for his number...

But Sollux sticks by him as he drags out his own leather suitcase.

Sollux follows him to the car rental area like a small child.

Sollux stands next to him as he loads his luggage into his rental Cadillac.

"Well..." Eridan places both hands on the steering wheel, "I guess this is goodbye."

Sollux leans down so he could peek into Eridan's open window, he was very delighted when Sollux stood up after the plane landed. Simply because Eridan could immediately tell Sollux was a good few inches above 6 feet.

"I guess it is." Sollux remarks emotionlessly.

Eridan takes a deep breath, and let's his eyes fall shut, _‘do you think I can have your number? So we can talk more?’_ His mind conjures up. It seems good, it left Sollux plenty of room to back out and say no, didn't it?

Eridan let the breath out, and opens his eyes, Sollux was looking at him with a wary expression.

"Do-" Eridan began.

"Wanna go on a date sometime?" Sollux blurts out all before Eridan could finish his second syllable.

Eridan simply gapes, unsure of what to say. Well, he knows what he wants to say, but he's rather enticed by Sollux's flushed skin, his tender eyes, his soft, fuzzy hair...

"Unless I mean..." Sollux rises up again so Eridan is no longer studying his face but his checker print belt, which is quite frankly the most adorable thing Eridan has ever seen. "Unless I'm totally reading you wrong," Sollux sputters out, "which I probably am, this was cool though. Meeting you was cool... I'm sorry."

"No!" Eridan opens the door so rapidly he nearly knocks it into Sollux. "No, Sol, I'd  
love to go on a date sometime!"

"For real?" Sollux looks offended, for some reason, until Eridan realizes that Sollux probably thought he was joking. Eridan understood where Sollux was coming from there, many times was Eridan the butt end of someone's prank date joke, it was never enjoyable.

"Yes!" Eridan desperately wants to kiss the look of pure disbelief off of Sollux's face. "C-can I have your number? So we can arrange something?"

Sollux's face falls into pure bliss, "oh god, hell yes." He pulls a pen out from his pocket, and grabs Eridan's forearm, rapidly scrawling a phone number on. "Call me soon, please?"

"Yes, as soon as I get to my hotel." Eridan nearly flies back into his car seat.

"Good, yeah good..." Sollux wouldn't stop grinning, he seems breathless, but so is Eridan, who's heart is beating so fast it hurt, and his legs felt like jello, was it safe to drive like this?

Just as Eridan starts the ignition, Sollux's head appeared in the window. And a dry peck was placed onto Eridan's lips, before Sollux pulled his head out again. The quick, barely there kiss was nothing compared to the things he and Vriska used to do, but it still made Eridan melt in his seat.

"ED?" Sollux is still standing outside the car.

"Yes?"

"Am I in?" Eridan wishes he could see Sollux's face from this angle, because he was already missing his quirky grin.

Eridan gave Sollux a quirky grin of his own, and even if Sollux couldn't see it, Eridan knew that Sollux knew it was there.

"You're in."

 

**Author's Note:**

> When most people think of first class they imagine like a private section of the plane with fancy seats and stuff. Well... I wish I knew what that was like...
> 
> I've only ever flown with Southwest Airlines and they don't really have first class they have like, A Class, B Class, and C Class?... A Class costs the most because you get seated first... That's essentially what Eridan paid for, sorry for any confusion... He didn't really get a legitimate first class, but A Class is still seen as first class.
> 
> Southwest is good 9/10 would fly again <3


End file.
